English Grammar Test English Grammar Punctuation 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which sentence correctly uses a colon?
- The ingredients are: flour, eggs, and milk.
- She needs: to study harder.
- He has three hobbies: reading, hiking, and painting. (Correct answer)
- They decided: to leave early.
Correct answer: He has three hobbies: reading, hiking, and painting.
A colon correctly introduces a list when preceded by a complete independent clause.
Question 2: How should two adjectives that equally modify a noun be punctuated?
- a tall dark building
- a tall, dark building (Correct answer)
- a tall; dark building
- a tall: dark building
Correct answer: a tall, dark building
Coordinate adjectives that each independently modify the noun are separated by a comma.
Question 3: Which sentence correctly omits the Oxford (serial) comma, yet remains unambiguous?
- I thanked my parents, the president and the CEO.
- I ordered coffee, tea and juice.
- She wore red, white and blue. (Correct answer)
- We invited the twins, Sam and Max.
Correct answer: She wore red, white and blue.
'Red, white and blue' lists three colors with no risk of ambiguity, so omitting the Oxford comma is acceptable.
Question 4: A hyphen is correctly used in which sentence?
- She is well-known in her field. (Correct answer)
- She is well known in her field after years of work.
- The child is ten-years old.
- He gave a state of the-art presentation.
Correct answer: She is well-known in her field.
Compound modifiers like 'well-known' are hyphenated when they appear before the noun they modify.
Question 5: Which sentence correctly uses parentheses?
- The event (was cancelled due to rain.)
- Please (RSVP) by Friday.
- She (quickly) finished the test.
- The meeting is at noon (12:00 p.m.). (Correct answer)
Correct answer: The meeting is at noon (12:00 p.m.).
Parentheses correctly enclose supplementary or clarifying information like a time equivalent.
Question 6: Which is the correct way to write a possessive for a singular noun ending in -s?
- James' car is new.
- James's car is new.
- Both A and B are acceptable. (Correct answer)
- Jameses car is new.
Correct answer: Both A and B are acceptable.
Style guides differ: AP Style prefers James' while Chicago Style prefers James's—both are acceptable.
Question 7: Which sentence correctly uses an ellipsis?
- She paused... and then spoke. (Correct answer)
- She paused … and then spoke.
- She paused....and then spoke.
- She paused . . . . and then spoke.
Correct answer: She paused... and then spoke.
In informal and most American editorial styles, an ellipsis is three periods with no space before the first and one space after the last.
English Grammar Test English Grammar Punctuation 3
Which sentence correctly uses a colon?